Across the nation

Posted: February 3, 2012 - 12:14am

WASHINGTON

Roseanne Barr is running for the Green Party’s presidential nomination — and she says it’s no joke.

The actress-comedian said in a statement Thursday she’s a longtime supporter of the party and looks forward to working with people who share her values. She said Democrats and Republicans aren’t working in the best interests of the American people.

Barr has submitted paperwork to the Green Party for her candidacy. The party’s presidential nominee will be selected at a convention in Baltimore in July.

LOS ANGELES

Deputies recommended in 1994 that an attempted fondling charge should be filed against a teacher now suspected of taking bondage-style photographs of children in his class, but prosecutors refused, saying there wasn’t enough evidence, authorities disclosed Thursday.

The investigation came after a 10-year-old girl claimed elementary school teacher Mark Berndt reached toward her genitals during class and she pushed his hand away, sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Scott said.

The details of the 18-year-old case and other claims by two former students about strange behavior by Berndt surfaced just three days after his arrest.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa.

Pennsylvania’s Punxsutawney Phil told people to prepare for six more weeks of winter on Thursday, making him the minority opinion among his groundhog brethren who seem to think spring is coming early.

Phil’s “prediction” came as he emerged from his lair to “see” his shadow on Gobbler’s Knob, a tiny hill in the town for which he’s named about 65 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.

Yet groundhogs in at least five other states — West Virginia’s French Creek Freddie, Georgia’s Gen. Beauregard Lee, Michigan’s Woody the Woodchuck, Ohio’s Buckeye Chuck and New York’s Staten Island Chuck — did not see their shadows. Nor did Ontario’s Wiarton Willie or Nova Scotia’s Shubenacadie Sam.